We should at least learn something from history so that we do not repeat it all the time.
1. Privatization in EE/FSU turned out to be much less important for growth that was originally believed. The speed of privatization was even less important.— Branko Milanovic (@BrankoMilan) October 26, 2018
4. Counties that did the worst were those who *sold* (for next to nothing) their assets to the politically connected. These assets were wasted. Thus wealth inequality became huge and growth did not take place.
— Branko Milanovic (@BrankoMilan) October 26, 2018
Sure, but #privatization was never understood in this broad sense. It was always about selling SOEs, as quickly as possible, at whatever price, to whoever could buy it so that "commies" would not come back as #Klaus or #Balcerowicz would put it (see my book for quotes).
— Marcin Piatkowski (@mmpiatkowski) October 27, 2018